LIVINGSTONE. 
217 
missionary instigated the young candidate to go to 
Africa and “ advance to unoccupied ground.” 
Thus at the outset Livingstone was unusually well 
equipped for the work which lay before him. Besides 
the ordinary qualifications of a missionary, his know¬ 
ledge of medicine was calculated to be of the highest 
service, and would enable him to win his way where the 
ordinary missionary would not dare to venture ; his 
experience as a working man had inured him to hard¬ 
ship, and combined as it was with a knowledge of 
various handicrafts, rendered him independent of all 
mechanical assistance. He had a knowledge of the 
HOUSE WHERE LIVING STONE FIRST MET MARY MOFFAT. 
natural sciences rare even now among missionaries, and 
ere he quitted the limits of civilisation he qualified 
himself to take observations that would be of service to 
the geographer. 
To an exterior in these early years somewhat heavy 
and uncouth, he united a manner which, by universal 
testimony, was irresistibly winning, with a fund of 
genuine but simple humour and fun that would break 
out on the most unlikely occasions, and in after years 
enabled him to overcome difficulties and mellow re¬ 
fractory chiefs when all other methods failed. 
Livingstone sailed from England on December 8, 
1840. From Algoa Bay he made direct for Kuruman, 
